Boston College Athletics
Boston College
HOCKEY EAST(Merrimack)
Hockey Advances To HOCKEY EAST Semifinals
March 10, 2001 | Men's Hockey
March 10, 2001
Postgame audio
? Coach York
? Brian Gionta
? Tony Voce
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Boston College scored three goals in the final 2:37 of the game to defeat Merrimack tonight, 5-1. The team advanced to the HOCKEY EAST semifinals with its two game sweep of the Warriors. The Eagles defeated Merrimack 1-0 on Friday night. Senior forward Brian Gionta scored two goals within 30 seconds to key the late game blitz in front of 2,975 fans at Kelley Rink.
BC (28-8-2) opened the scoring at 5:48 of the first period when senior Mike Lephart picked up a pass at the blueline and skated in alone for a shorthanded tally. Merrimack (14-20-4) evened the score at 4:46 of the second when Nick Parillo took a feed in front of the net and pocketed the pass behind Eagle goalkeeper Scott Clemmensen.
Freshman Tony Voce put the Eagles ahead for good with his 10th goal of the year and second in as many games when he intercepted a pass and skated in for the score at 6:11 in the third. Gionta added the next two goals before sophomore A.J. Walker registered his second goal of the season with one second left in the game.
Clemmensen made 25 saves on the night for his 25th win of the season. Merrimack goalkeeper Tom Exter made 43 saves in the loss as the Eagles peppered him with 48 shots.
With the win, BC advanced to the tournament semifinals and will face either UMass-Lowell or Boston University (depending on the series outcome of the Providence-BU match-up) at the FleetCenter on Friday, March 16. Game time will either be 5 p.m. or 8 p.m. HOCKEY EAST will announce the semifinal pairings on Sunday night.
